Map of the Battle of Ancre. The red lines indicate the trenches, with the thicker lines showing the British and German front lines on 13 November.

Since 1 July, I have been blogging about some of the significant attacks in the Battle of the Somme involving the King’s Liverpool Regiment. This is the final one of the series.

Map of the Somme region. The red line indicates the position of the British Front-line on 1 July 1916. The blue line indicates the position of the line when the Somme battle ended on 18 November. The upper part of the Line had not moved.

This Imperial War Museum image, taken in November 1916, shows British troops struggling to move captured artillery through the mud.

The Battle of the Ancre was the final large British push on the Somme in 1916. The British front line, north of Thiepval had barely moved since July. Pushing the line forward would remove a vulnerable salient, and move the British Forces on to higher ground, giving them a tactical advantage.

Originally planned for September, the attack was cancelled several times, as the region experienced some of the worst weather in decades. The mix of torrential rain and artillery bombardment, turned the already marshy valley around the River Ancre into a quagmire of mud, wire and bodies. Into this hell marched the 1st Battalion of the King’s – decimated in earlier Somme battles, the Battalion had been reinforced with drafts from home totalling 750 men, and was essentially a new, inexperienced unit.

On 13 November, the Battalion was sheltering on open ground in the British front lines, their own trenches so full of mud they were unusable. Part of the 6th Brigade, they were the second wave of the attack, behind the 13th Essex Regiment and would cross no-man’s-land, in the area around Redan Ridge. Their objective was to breech a stronghold of German trenches, known as the quadrilateral, and push through to their second and third lines, at Frankfort trench and Beaucourt-Serre Road.

At 5.45am, they moved forward, into fog so thick that in places the visibility was only 20 yards. The quadrilateral split their Brigade and the King’s followed the Essex to the right while the South Stafford Regiment were forced to the left.

Ahead of them, some of the Essex made it through to German lines, but most were bogged down in no-man’s-land. The King’s moved forward to reinforce them. Some of the King’s and Essex men became trapped behind a ridge, about 30 yards in front of the enemy trenches. Worse still, these men were ordered to hold their positions, effectively, to draw the brutal German machine gun fire away from a more successful push by the 5th Brigade, happening on their right flank.

To their left, the Stafford’s attack had failed. To their right, the 5th Brigade had pushed through into the German lines. The Essex/King’s group had breeched the German lines on their right flank, but had been unable to push far into the quadrilateral on their left. This turned their line of attack in a more northerly direction and they dug a new front line diagonally across no-man’s-land.

The King’s and Essex men continued to push forward under heavy shelling and machine gun fire, even though they had limited bomb supplies and rifles that had clogged in the waist-deep mud. They were finally withdrawn from the trenches on 16 November. During the attack, they had suffered 255 killed, wounded and missing.

The British front line had moved forward during the Battle of the Ancre, and some high ground was gained, but in the northern sector of the Battle, little had changed and north from Serre, the British line was pretty much the same as it had been on 1 July.

Private Charles Sumner was killed during the battle. The 25 year-old had arrived at The Front just five months earlier

The Battle of the Somme officially ended on 18 November. The fight for an area of ground approximately the same size as the Wirral, had raged for 141 days with casualties on both sides totalling more than one million men. The King’s Regiment alone had almost 3,000 killed in the region.

Our daily tweets included the name, rank, age and when possible, an image of a soldier who had died that day

Every day since the 1 July we have been tweeting to remember the soldiers from the King’s Liverpool Regiment who fought at the Battle of the Somme. Now as we enter the final few days of the Battle’s 100th anniversary we’re bringing our daily tweets to an end.

Almost 3,000 of the King’s Liverpool Regiment lost their lives at the Somme. It would have been impossible to truly convey this terrible loss of life in a tweet, but by sharing the name of a single soldier who lost his life that day, the tweets have become a persistent reminder of this a prolonged and dreadful period of fighting.

In the time we’ve been tweeting there has been only one day that had no deaths recorded for the Regiment.

For each soldier we tried to do two tweets, the first to share some basic details; the soldier’s name, rank, age and, where possible, cause of death. The second gave a bit more personal information about the man, for example his former job or the family he had left behind.

The response to the tweets has been very moving, with people taking the time to let us know what they mean to them and regularly sharing them.

The King’s Liverpool Regiment were at the Somme until 16 November which will be the date of our final tweet. Curator of Urban and Military History, Karen O’Rourke has been blogging during the Somme anniversary about the most significant moments for the Regiment and she will be sharing her final blog also on this date.

The official last day of the Battle of the Somme is 18 November. In the 141 days the battle was fought more than a million lives were lost.

The Battle for Guillemont stalled the left flank of the British Army for six weeks in the summer of 1916. September saw a renewed push forward and by the end of the month, the Allies controlled the ground as far as Les Boefs and Gueudecourt.

The War led to tactical and technological advances on both sides and German commanders employed a new tactic, deploying machine guns using existing terrain as cover rather than fixed within their trench system. This strategy enabled them to hold ground with their already depleted forces. As the Allies advanced towards the ridge at Le Transloy, they would soon find out how effective this tactic would be.

On 7 October at 1.45pm the 61st Brigade, including the 12th Battalion, of the King’s Liverpool Regiment, assembled east of Gueudecourt, to join the Battle of Le Transloy. Their objectives were ‘Rainbow’ and ‘Cloudy’ trenches. The enemy trenches had endured several hours of artillery bombardment and the British then followed a creeping barrage towards enemy lines. Within minutes, dozens of demoralised German troops either surrendered or retreated and soon both trenches had fallen. Now the new German tactics came into play and the British faced a rain of fire from the German machine gunners. Concealed in hedges and shell holes away from their front line, the earlier artillery bombardment had left them barely affected. The 61st Brigade held their line, but the cost was heavy. The 12th Battalion alone lost 221 casualties (killed, wounded or missing).

Captain Guy Ravenscroft from the 18th Battalion was killed in no-mans-land whilst marking out the start positions for the 18 October attack.

After Guillemont, the severely depleted Liverpool Pals had withdrawn from the Line. Now, reinforced with new troops, they returned to the Somme. On 12 October, at 2.05pm, the 17th Battalion assembled north of Flers. Their objective was to capture the German-held Gird trenches. They made it to the enemy line, but were stopped by un-damaged barbed-wire. Coming under heavy machine gun fire from all directions, they retreated. By the time the 19th and 20th Liverpool Pals relieved them the following morning, they had gained just 150 yards, with a loss of 273 casualties.

The 20th Battalion remained in the line just one day and didn’t participate in an attack, but German shell and machine gun bombardments were so heavy, that they suffered over 100 casualties.

The 19th Battalion arrived to support the 17th, on the evening of 12 October, and moved between Front line and support trenches. They took part in the attack on 18 October, but were required to hold the line, rather than push forward. After seven days, their 42 casualties were a relatively low number.

The 18th Battalion took an active part in the 18 October attack. Although orders were altered and movement through the congested assembly trenches, in heavy rain, was difficult, they arrived at their position just before the 3.40am ‘Zero hour’. The objective remained Gird trench. They too met with largely intact barbed wire, and also came under heavy Machine Gun fire. In addition to this, they were hampered by conditions, as this quote from the War Diary illustrates:

“The ground was covered with shell holes. These combined with the sodden and greasy state of the ground and numerous dead made the going exceedingly difficult… the mud and slime clogged the rifles and Lewis Guns and would have absolutely prevented them from being fired.”

The ‘non-success’ of the operation was blamed on a loss of morale. In the War Diary, the Battalion’s Commanding Officer lists the unreasonable demands made on the men in the days prior to the attack. These included; appalling weather, persistent enemy shelling, gas attacks, continuously changing orders and duties that finished as late as 2am. He ‘suggests’ that it was unreasonable for these men to then be immediately sent into battle.

Weather continued to hamper operations and after the attack on 18 October, having lost over 5,000 casualties to the Battle, British Commanders scaled back the operation and the main battle was effectively ended.

However, the King’s Regiment story continued. On 25 October the 4th Battalion arrived at trenches north of Lesboefs. At 6am on 28 October they attacked and captured ‘Dewdrop’ trench. Their short time in Lesboefs cost them 131 casualties and they left the area on 4 November, ending the Liverpool Regiment’s involvement in the Battle for Le Transloy.

The Battalion had been in and out of the trenches to the west of the village from mid August and had already experienced some casualties. On 3 September, at 12 noon, the Battalion went ‘over the top’ to capture Guillemont. They moved through Trones Wood and across the exposed flat land to the west of the village. Their Brigade captured the north of the village, but it was a tough battle. The cost to the 12th Battalion for the ground gained was 187 casualties.

The Victoria Cross medal awarded to Sergeant David Jones

Early in the morning on 5 September, most of the Battalion left the Front Line for some much needed rest. Unfortunately their relief Battalion from the Border Regiment did not have any Lewis Machine Gun teams with them. Liverpool born Sergeant David Jones and two Lewis Gun teams from the 12th stayed behind as support. The Borderers moved forward and the platoon Jones’ team was attached to, came under heavy machine gun fire. The commanding officer and a number of men in the unit were killed. Sergeant Jones took command and led the remaining men forward to take their objective. For his actions in that attack, David was awarded the Victoria Cross (the highest gallantry award in Britain). His citation best describes the circumstances:

“For most conspicuous bravery, devotion to duty, and ability displayed in the handling of his platoon.

The platoon to which he belonged was ordered to a forward position and during the advance, came under heavy machine-gun fire, the officer being killed and the platoon suffering heavy losses.

Sergeant Jones led forward the remainder, occupied the position, and held it for two days and two nights without food or water, until relieved. On the second day, he drove back three counter-attacks, inflicting heavy losses. His coolness was most praiseworthy. It was due entirely to his resource and example that his men retained confidence and held their post.”

David’s men withdrawing from the trenches, is the last action for the King’s Regiment in the capture of Guillemont Village. In the battle for that one village, the Liverpool Regiment lost almost 2000 men killed, and an unknown number of casualties. If you look at the scales on the maps that we have used in our blogs, that’s almost one Liverpool life lost for every yard gained. In the six week period between 23 July and 5 September 1916 the Regiment lost one eighth of their total number killed throughout the whole four-year war.

Map showing the final attack on Guillemont on 3 September 1916

David’s story after the battle is a short one. He never knew that he had been awarded the medal. He was offered leave after the battle, but chose to stay at the Somme with his men. Just a month later, on 7 October, he was killed at Bancourt. His widow, Elizabeth, accepted the medal from King George V at Buckingham Palace. The medal is now in Museum of Liverpool collections and is displayed in the From waterfront to Western Front exhibition.

David’s large family is understandably proud of him and have been to the Museum to find out information. If you have relatives who you think served in the First World War come along to our event A day to remember tomorrow, Saturday 3 September 2016, and maybe one of our expert historians can help you find out a little more about them!

Guillemont Road Cemetery, where many King’s Regiment soldiers are buried

As night fell on 8 August 1916, a few of the men from the 1st Battalion had escaped the attack and found their way back to the British Front Line. Of the hundreds of men in the battalion, who had gone over the top that morning, only 180 were available to answer their names at roll call. The battle for the village of Guillemont described in yesterday’s blog continued however, as the remaining men of the 8th (Irish) Battalion were still trapped in the village.

Zero hour on 9 August was once again 4.20am with the same objective lines. This time the 6th and 7th battalions were to head the attack and were joined by the 10th (Liverpool Scottish) Battalion.

During this attack, the 10th Battalion’s Medical Officer, Noel Chavasse was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery. Noel was the son of the Bishop of Liverpool and was the only man ever to have been awarded two Victoria Crosses during one war. Sadly, the second one, in 1917, was awarded posthumously.

Just making their way to their zero hour rendezvous point had been almost impossible. The trenches that were still intact were crowded with wounded men making their way back from the battle and dead bodies. The British Front Line was also so badly damaged by enemy shells, that other troops failed to reach their rendezvous point because the trench they were looking for no longer existed. There was confusion along the whole line – men were delayed, orders could not be circulated and locations were uncertain. At least one battalion commander requested that zero hour be delayed, but the request was refused. The attack would go ahead as planned.

It is probably not surprising that in such confusion, few details of the attack were recorded. The records do show that the 6th and 7th Battalions managed to progress only a very short distance before being pinned down.

The 10th (Scottish) Battalion had only just made it to their ‘jump off point’ by zero hour. The Loyal North Lancashire’s, meant to support their left flank, had not made it in time and the 10th Battalion were forced to advance without them. They made it to the German wire, but were forced to retreat under a hail of gunfire. They pushed forward again and again, but each time they were beaten back. By nightfall, the 10th had not advanced their position at all. The attack on 9 August had failed again and 36 hours after they had left the British Front Line, the last of the 8th (Irish) men trapped in the village, were either captured or killed.

The fighting continued and on 12 August, the 9th Battalion, the last of the Terrier Battalions moved up to the Front Line, ready to advance. This time Zero hour would be 5.15pm. The attack was preceded by a short bombardment of just two hours. The 9th moved forward under heavy fire, but quickly reached their objective. The story was all too familiar – the men were outflanked and were forced to retreat. By midnight, apart from a slight gain of land by one Company, almost all of the attacking troops were back where they had started.

This map shows the position of the Territorials and 1st Battalion (marked in blue), in the third attack on the village. The arrows show their proposed movement to their objective lines.

The 55th Division moved out of the Front Line on the night of 14 August. They had been in action for two weeks. In that time the British line had moved forward an average of just 360 metres. The Liverpool Territorial and 1st Battalion losses (including wounded and prisoners) had run into thousands, with 680 men confirmed killed.

Still the fight for Guillemont continued – look out for our next Somme blog in September to find out how yet more Merseyside men were involved.

This map shows the position of the Territorials and 1st Battalion (marked in blue), in the third attack on the village. The arrows show their proposed movement to their objective lines.

In the early hours of 31 July 1916, after two failed attacks on the Village of Guillemont, the depleted Liverpool Pals Battalions left the Front Line – but the Liverpool story continued. The 55th Division, which replaced them, included the six Territorial Battalions of the King’s Liverpool Regiment. Known as the ‘Liverpool Terriers’, they had all been in action since 1915 and were already experienced in battle.

The third attack on the village was planned for 4.20am on 8 August. There would be another heavy bombardment, this one lasting 17 hours, and then the attack would begin. The Terriers were attacking from the centre and right of the British line. As in the previous Somme battles, the French were on their right flank. Further north, another Kings battalion, the 1st Battalion, was also taking part and would focus on objectives in the northern part of the village.

In the days leading up to the battle, the British Front Line consistently came under fire and the 8th (Liverpool Irish) and 9th battalions particularly, suffered numerous losses. For three days prior to the attack, the 5th Battalion occupied the trenches previously held by the Pals. One of their tasks was to recover the dead left out in no-mans-land, after the previous battle. The dead men were wearing the distinctive Pals insignia – the unfortunate 5th Battalion must have known that the men they were dragging in and burying were fellow Merseyside men.

On the night of 7 August all of the troops moved to their assembly points and were in position by midnight. The Terriers were mostly assembled south of the Trones-Guillemont road, with the exception of the 8th (Irish) battalion who lined up in the trenches just north of the road, in front of Trones Wood.

At 4.20am mist and fog swathed the battlefield. The whistles blew and the men moved forward toward the enemy lines. They were confronted with a hail of fire from German rifles and machine guns. The 5th Battalion (with the 6th and 7th in support) made it only a couple of hundred metres before they were pinned down and forced to ‘dig in’.

This image from the ‘Liverpool Express’ newspaper shows 24 year old Corporal Albert Quine, from Anfield, who served with the 8th (Irish) Battalion. His death on 8 August was a double tragedy for his family, as his wife Margaret had died in February 1915.

The 8th Battalion made better headway and were able to advance into the village. However, the North Lancashire’s, advancing on their right, had come under such heavy fire that they were forced to retreat. The 8th Battalion was out flanked and vulnerable. The Germans attacked with machine guns from all sides, while also laying down a line of fire over no-mans-land – effectively halting any hope of support coming to their aid. At this point communication had broken down, and we can only guess at what happened, based on the stories of some of the men who made it back. When they found themselves surrounded, the Irish put up a good fight, but they faced an overwhelming German force armed with machine guns, grenades, and gas shells.

The 1st Battalion had also made it into the village. Due to the fog and smoke, they reached the objective line a little farther south than planned. Around an hour after the attack began, the Battalion reported that they had breached the German front line but there was some confusion over their exact location. It is known that they continued forward and took their objectives of the station, and High Holborn trench, but then communication with the 1st also broke down. An injured officer managed to make his way back to the British line. He reported that the Germans had somehow regained their Front Line trenches, and were now between the British Front Line and the beleaguered 1st Battalion.

British commanding officers realised that they had underestimated the fortifications in the village. The Germans were clearly making use of a warren of underground basements and tunnels to shelter from the British Artillery and were able to move around freely once the bombardment had stopped.

As night fell, fighting could still be heard in the village and the commanders knew that they must try and retrieve any men still holding out.

At 8.30 pm fresh operation orders were issued, that the attack would continue and the new ‘zero hour’ was to be at 4.20am on 9 August – the orders stated as follows:

The attack on Guillemont and its defences will be continued tomorrow by the 2nd and 55th Divisions.

If your relative was a First World War soldier and you want advice on how to find out more about his service, come along to our free research day A day to remember on 3 September at the Museum of Liverpool.

Medals and badge of Sergeant Herbert Lawrenson, displayed in the Museum of Liverpool. Herbert (pictured below), from Smithdown Road, served with the 20th Battalion and was killed on 30 July. His body was never recovered.

In my last blog, we left the victorious Pals Battalions in early July 1916, consolidating the ground they had captured around Montauban Village. By the end of July, after three weeks of heavy fighting, the British Front line had moved just 1.6 miles and the Liverpool battalions were now in action just south of Trones Wood. The next objective was to capture Guillemont Village. Although it was just a small farming village, it was well situated with flat land on all sides and had been in German hands for around two years. By 1916, it was heavily fortified and well defended. This made it a key target for British commanders.

The first attack on the village was on 23 July. The 18th Battalion were on carrying duties, the other Pals Battalions did not take part. The attack failed and the British were not able to advance their Front Line. The 18th Battalion, being based quite far back in support trenches, had relatively few casualties – less than twenty.

This map shows the position of the Pals Battalions at 4.45am on 30 July (marked in blue). The arrows show their proposed movement to their objective lines, just south of the village.

The second attack on the village on 30 July, was a completely different story for the Liverpool Pals. This time three Battalions would take part (17th, 19th and 20th). They sustained casualties even before the attack: German gunners rained poison gas and explosive shells down on them in the dark, as they moved up to their positions the night before. At 4.45am the whistles blew and they began moving towards their objective lines, south of the village, across almost a mile of fog shrouded no-mans-land. Visibility and communication was poor and progress was difficult. When the fog finally began to clear, many of the advancing men were left out in the open with no cover. They were easy targets for the German machine gunners and snipers and were soon pinned down. The men from the 19th Battalion sustained heavy losses, but managed to reach their objective. Without support on their flanks, they soon came under attack from the machine gunners in the village and were forced to retreat.

The 20th Battalion failed to reach their objective at all – individual companies had become disorientated in the fog and soon lost touch with each other. When officers were able to get messages back to Battalion headquarters, most were reports of their units being pinned down or of being unsure of their location. Each message provided progressively worse casualty figures. By mid morning, reports made it clear the attack had been another failure.

Sergeant Herbert Lawrenson from Smithdown Road, served with the 20th Battalion and was killed on 30 July. His body was never recovered.

By nightfall the huge losses were apparent. Less than 2,000 Liverpool Pals went ‘over the top’ on 30 July; of which in just that one day, an estimated 1,115 of them were killed, wounded, missing or captured. Almost 500 of those were confirmed killed on the day. The Liverpool Pals had moved their Front line forward just 300 yards.

The Pals Battalions were withdrawn from the line, as their numbers were so depleted they were no longer a fighting force. The Liverpool story however, does not end there. In my next blog, I will look at how more men from Liverpool arrived to take part in the fight for Guillemont.

Each day of the Somme commemorations, we are tweeting about the men featured on our King’s Regiment database on Twitter @MuseumLiverpool. We are currently unable to carry out individual family history research, however, you can search the 91,000 men of the King’s Regiment online for basic information or visit our City Soldiers gallery in the Museum of Liverpool to view richer information in the full database.

]]>http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2016/07/centenary-of-the-somme-battles-attacking-guillemont/feed/4Commemorating the first day of the Sommehttp://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2016/07/commemorating-the-first-day-of-the-somme/
Fri, 01 Jul 2016 09:18:34 +0000http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/?p=12816

A memorial to the Liverpool and Manchester Pals in Montauban village commemorates their actions on 1 July

In my previous blog I described how the first day of the Somme on 1 July 1916 was a disaster for the Allies, and I could write an entire article about contributing factors, such as the inadequate reconnaissance, the wrong types of ordnance, the tactical mistakes etc. Instead I want to talk about the contribution of the King’s Liverpool Regiment on the day.

The Liverpool Pals (17th, 18th, 19th and 20th Battalions of the King’s Regiment) had formed in the early months of the First World War. They arrived at the Western Front in November 1915, and although they had been involved in some small skirmishes, this was to be their baptism of fire. They lined up at Maricourt, on the extreme right of the British line, supported on their right by French troops.

At zero-hour, the Liverpool men moved forward, heading north towards their objective, the trenches in front of the village of Montauban. The 17th, 18th and 20th Pals Battalions were in the first wave of attacking troops. For the 17th and 20th Battalions, the superior French artillery to their immediate right, seems to have helped (the French had many more heavy artillery shells) and they were able to move forward quite quickly and capture their objectives. The 18th battalion had a harder time of it. A German machine gun, set up in a strongpoint to the left of their advance, opened fire and did considerable damage to more than half the battalion, before a bombing party was able to destroy it. Once their objective was secured, the 90th brigade, consisting mainly of men from the Manchester Regiment, was able to move up from behind, ‘leapfrog’ the ‘Liverpools’, and capture the village. The 20th Battalion then launched a successful attack on the Briqueterie, to the north east of the main objective trenches – again this attack was accomplished fairly easily.

Captain Arthur De Bels Adam – killed while trying to destroy the German machine gun that was injuring so many of the 18th Battalion

During the attack, the 19th Battalion had been employed in ‘carrying duties’ which meant they mainly moved supplies through the trenches. They were also tasked with securing the British front line trenches once the attacking troops moved forward. Although they did not take part in the actual attack, they were still involved in the battle and 19 men from the battalion were killed in those first few days.

Over the next few days, the Liverpool men spent their time consolidating the captured ground and patrolling the area.

Only 225 Liverpool Pals died on 1 July (the majority with the 18th Battalion) and their division captured and retained their objectives. Their experience, however, did not reflect the mass bloodshed and failed attacks elsewhere along the line. This was possibly because there were less German troops in this sector, possibly because the defences were not as strong, and certainly because of the artillery support from the French heavy guns.

The Battle of the Somme would continue for 141 days until 18 November. and for Liverpool the big ‘Somme story’ was yet to come. Every day throughout the centenary of the Somme we will be tweeting, to remember some of the ‘Kingos’ who lost their lives.

Watch out for some more blogs, to find out why most of the people back home in Liverpool undoubtedly would have heard of the sleepy village of Guillemont by the end of that summer.

Portrait photograph postcard of Private Harry Grace, King’s Regiment. Written on the reverse, ‘Signaller Harry Grace, Killed in France 1st July 1916, 18th Service K.L.R. “Pals” (2nd Batt).’ Private Harry Grace was a scoutmaster and prominent member of Richmond Baptist Youth Group. He was 19 when he was killed by a shell at the Somme.

One hundred years ago this week, on 1 July 1916, British Forces suffered their worst casualties ever in one single day. Communities all over Britain will come together on Friday 1 July to commemorate the anniversary of what is often called, ‘the bloodiest day in British military history’. At the Museum of Liverpool our latest exhibition First World War: Charity and Liverpool’s Home Front, looks at some of the organisations that were instrumental in helping both the casualties who came home from the war, and also the families of the men who did not.

That first day of the Somme saw 19,240 British men killed in action, a further 40,000 were wounded or taken prisoner. The British front line stretched from Gommecourt to Maricourt – around 18 miles of trenches. South of Maricourt, the French Army held the line. The battle was a tactical one, meant to divert German troops from a much larger battle, being fought against the French further east at Verdun.

A week-long artillery bombardment would effectively destroy the German forces in their own trenches. It would devastate their defences and more importantly, cut the barbed wire protecting the trenches from no-mans-land. The bombardment would continue raining shells on the German front line for a few minutes after zero-hour, giving any surviving German troops little time to regroup and launch a defence. British troops could then cross no-mans-land and easily capture German positions. That was the plan…

The reality was that the Germans had held some sectors of the Somme from as early as 1914. They’d had a long time to prepare. Their dug-outs were much deeper than Allied commanders expected. Their wire defences were also much wider. The British did not have enough heavy artillery shells to do the extensive damage needed, either to the defences or the wire. At 7.30am on 1 July, whistles blew and along the British front line, men moved forward. Concerned that inexperienced troops would struggle with evasive tactics, the men had been ordered by commanders to walk forward, in lines. As soon as the bombardment stopped, German troops were able to rush up out of their dug-outs and were ready with their machine guns, as the British troops advanced towards them. The effects were catastrophic and entire companies of men were mown down.

The Colour flag for the 18th (Pals) Battalion is one of the King’s Regiment items from the First World War on display at the Museum of Liverpool.

When we talk of the Battle of the Somme, that first day in July immediately comes to mind, but many people are surprised to learn that the fight in the Somme Valley was actually a series of Battles that lasted 141 days until 18 November.

The Battle of the Somme would continue and for Liverpool the big ‘Somme story’ was yet to come. Every day throughout the centenary of the Somme we will be tweeting, to remember some of the ‘Kingos’ – members of the King’s Regiment -who lost their lives.

Watch out for some more blogs, starting tomorrow, looking at how the King’s Regiment was involved in key battles in the Somme Valley.

]]>http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2016/06/the-centenary-of-the-somme-battles/feed/1Family History Day: a very special resourcehttp://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2015/11/family-history-day-a-very-special-resource/
Thu, 12 Nov 2015 09:15:19 +0000http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/?p=10279

An example of a record from the King’s Regiment database

In my last Family History Day blog, I talked about the experts who will be on hand to help our visitors with their research on all sorts of First World War subjects at our First World War family history day. However there is another “star of the show” – the King’s Regiment database.

The database is a collection of information, about the men who served with the King’s (Liverpool Regiment) during the First World War. Most museums and heritage groups have lists and databases of information. So what makes ours so special? Our database is huge. It is estimated that around 110,000 men were enlisted with the Regiment during the War. Thanks to the work of one very dedicated compiler, almost 92,000 of those men have a listing on the database. And we can connect photos to 5,000 of them.

The information generally isn’t taken from soldier’s service records, but is a compilation of a variety of material, that perhaps is a little more difficult to access; newspaper articles, school year books, listings on memorials, family diaries and letters, journals, official War Diaries. Anywhere that information appears about an individual, our researcher has tried to uncover it and include it. Sometimes we don’t know much about the soldier and there might just be a name and a service number. Often we can provide details about the man’s family life, or his work, his actions on the battlefield, if he was killed, where he is buried – a real mix of information.

There is an online index and the full database has been available to search in the City Soldiers Gallery at the Museum of Liverpool since the gallery opened, but the newest version, available at our Family History Day, has an additional 10,000 records added, plus an extra 2,000 images. Many of the existing records have also had more information added to them.

Our experts helping the public during Family History Day

I am so pleased that we are able to offer this unique database as a resource for visitors and our King’s Regiment experts who will be there on Family History Day (including Joe, the compiler) are always able to help with further information.